As US Vice President JD Vance defended the actions of federal agents, outrage over the detention of a five-year-old boy in a huge immigration operation in Minneapolis increased on Friday.
As President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies its effort to deport what it claims are millions of illegal immigrants nationwide, thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been sent to the Democratic-led city.
Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old boy, was among those held, Vance said on Thursday. However, he claimed that officers were shielding him since his father “ran” from an immigration sweep.
“What should they do? He asked, “Are they going to let a five-year-old freeze to death?”
UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged US officials to stop “dehumanizing portrayal and harmful treatment of migrants and refugees” in Geneva.
In a statement, he said, “I am astounded by the now-routine abuse and denigration of migrants and refugees.” “Where is the concern for our shared humanity and their dignity?”
Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, called Homeland Security officials “sick liars” and disputed Vance’s justification for Ramos’ arrest.
Castro claimed to have been unable to find the youngster, who was allegedly being detained in San Antonio, Texas, with his father.
In a video uploaded to X, he stated, “My staff and I have been working to figure out where he is, make sure that he is safe, and also to demand his release by ICE.”
However, he claimed that ICE “has not given us information.”
Social media users have been calling for a day of action against ICE, and a protest is scheduled for Friday in downtown Minneapolis.
Additionally, according to US media, some activists have called for a “economic blackout,” advising locals not to work, shop, or attend school as a form of protest.
Former US vice president Kamala Harris expressed her “outrage” over Ramos’s incarceration, calling him “just a baby.”
Liam Ramos is only a newborn. Instead of being detained in a Texas detention facility and utilized as bait by ICE, he ought to be at home with his family, she wrote on X.
Harris posted a picture of the boy with white rabbit ears hanging from a blue knitted hat, with someone behind him seemingly clinging to his backpack.
Another image that is making the rounds online depicts Ramos being accompanied by a man dressed in black, with a black facial covering.
Hillary Clinton, a former US secretary of state, charged that law enforcement was “terrorizing a population” and “using children as pawns.”
According to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, children are being treated “like criminals” by the federal government.
According to Frey, the 3,000 new federal agents felt like a “job,” according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Claims that the boy was singled out by ICE agents were denied by the Homeland Security department, which said the child had been “abandoned” by his father during an arrest operation.
It stated on X, “One of our ICE officers stayed with the child for his safety while the other officers apprehended (his father) Conejo Arias.”
“ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates, or parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children.”
“Taking a toll”: According to US media, which cited local administrators, Ramos is one of at least four kids jailed in the same Minneapolis school system this month.
The children’s incarceration coincided with the US attorney general’s announcement that three activists had been arrested for allegedly interfering with a church service by protesting and accusing a pastor of being an ICE agent.
In the church, scores of protesters could be seen yelling “ICE out!” in videos of the event.
Since federal officers shot and murdered US citizen Renee Good on January 7, tense protests have shaken Minneapolis.
Jonathan Ross, the cop who fired the rounds that killed Good, has not been charged or suspended. Trump and his representatives promptly justified his acts as justifiable self-defense.
Ramos and his father’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, stated that the two are not citizens of the United States and that they applied for asylum in Minneapolis, a sanctuary city where police do not assist federal immigration sweeps.
Such local initiatives, according to Vance, were impeding ICE activities.
According to Vance, “the lack of cooperation between state and local officials makes it harder for us to do our job and turns up the temperature.”
If a federal judge grants Minnesota’s request for a temporary restraining order, the ICE operation in the state will be put on hold. The application will be heard on Monday.
